Messages

31

Users / Re: Forum Charter for discussion - Draft....

« on: March 27, 2009, 05:38:16 am »

While I agree with locking "Spiralling Forum Threads", I am noticing conflicting "requirements" on this. I'll explain, just so you are aware that you may be creating extra work for yourselves in the future. The conflicting requirements are:
1) Locking spiraling threads
2) A thread should be available to revive at any point.

So if a thread is locked because it became spiraling, and then, a month later some new user wants to post on it. How would they go about doing it? Two options, both of which, as I see it, unfortunately create extra work for you Admins.
1) User sends a message to admins to please unlock the thread.
2) Admins set themselves a reminder to unlock the thread a a predetermined date.

Therefore, the locking of spiraling threads may eventually (once Admins get tired of re-enabling threads) turn out to be a "locked forever" type of thing, therefore overruling "requirement" or "preference" #2.

Not taking a stance for or against it...just explaining some possible scenarios in case you may not have thought of this.

R

32

Users / Re: Forum Charter for discussion - Draft....

« on: March 27, 2009, 03:50:54 am »

Thumbs up!  Being a first draft, it actually looks very good. Simple and to the point.
Nothing critical, but you may also want to put in something about you guys reserving the right to move threads among boards if the posting is more appropriate for a different board. Something like:

Appropriate Forum Board - Administrators reserve the right to move entire threads to more appropriate boards, if the subject so deserves it.

R

33

Users / Re: Ooohh...so this is what a real media center is!!!

« on: March 26, 2009, 01:00:49 pm »

hehehehee...That's right! 

Next on Dr. Phil:
   Take your romance from the couch to the bedroom...and back...with LinuxMCE

Or... today in Oprah:
   You don't have to be a couch potato anymore...
I mean...really...people don't have to be glued to the couch anymore...and that is just awesome...Now they can be munching down straight from the fridge... 

Or here's another interesting add-on. For those people that have workout videos and the like, now they don't need to be fumbling with DVDs and, if short on time, can start warming up their workout in one place and finish in another.  But that would be too healthy...so we'll just stick with the couch-potato example...

Great job guys!
R

34

Users / Ooohh...so this is what a real media center is!!!

« on: March 26, 2009, 03:58:02 am »

   I must say guys... you should be really proud of yourselves...Beaucoup Kudos to all who contribute to this project.
What do I mean? Well, when I first decided to set up LinuxMCE in my home, we were thinking "Well, how about a nice system where we could watch movies and record TV with one common interface? Ok...I've heard of this thing called LinuxMCE, lets try that". But what we found out tonight just blew us away. Wife and I were getting ready to cozy up and watch a movie tonight and we just noticed that all of our home made videos were there that we can now watch from the living room. So we don't have to be stuck in the office or the laptop to watch them. Everything was there...we started watching old honeymoon videos and Christmas vacations and all. Great wife-brownie-points right there!. (Just last night I had done a full synch of my network drives but couldn't see it finishing).
   And Oh, By The Way, now we also have our music down in the living room. I mean, I realize this is what a "media center" does. So some of you may say "Duh!". But this is so much more than what we had originally intended...just excellent guys! Thank You!
I realize this is just scratching the surface of LMCE, and there's so much more, but so far...Awesome!  And we just have one hybrid right now...
   Definitely have to/will do some "pay it back" to the community...

Thank you all!
R

35

Users / Re: "Tough Love In This Forum"

« on: March 24, 2009, 12:55:58 pm »

*Buy a man a beer...and he'll drink for a day...
*Teach him how to build his own still...and he'll drink for a lifetime...
 

36

Users / Re: New installation - UI2 alpha blending with no tearing

« on: March 21, 2009, 06:15:56 pm »

Hey Craptastic... could you please edit your posts here and put "code" markers around your xorg.conf?
It would really be appreciated...

Like this...
[ c o d e ]      (without all the spaces)
INSERT YOUR xorg.conf HERE
[ / c o d e ]    (without all the spaces)


Thank you,
R

I'll delete this particular post once that's fixed 

37

Users / Re: New installation - UI2 alpha blending with no tearing

« on: March 19, 2009, 02:45:45 am »

Ok...so here's my setup. Coincidentally, I also have the ASUS M3N78-EM.

- Motherboard: ASUS M3N78-EM  Uses NVIDIA GeForce 8300
- CPU: AMD Athon 64 X2 Kuma 2.7 GHz
- RAM: Kingston HyperX 1Gb
- Display: Samsung 40" TFT-LCD LN-T4061F

This is some of what I've done:
- Installed from the i386 DVD.
- Connected through the HDMI port AND VGA port. Boot-ups on the VGA, but once LMCE is up, PC switches to HDMI output.
- Running at 1980x1080p. I did set the LCD's HDMI input name to HDMI-PC. This helped to get the alignment on the screen correctly.
- On the BIOS, I'm sharing 256 of memory with the video card (I'm curious about this and will test out by reducing it later when I have time)
- Installed latest nVidia drivers as described in: wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Display_Drivers#Latest_Drivers
- Have only watched DVD .ISO files, and no problem. Still fighting with HDHomeRun (hdhomerun_config doesn't want to discover it, even though I can clearly see it from the webpage and pings)

   I will say this. During the setup wizard, I did not see the whole image. It looked like a square where I didn't see two quadrants. But I did see part of the flamethrower.
Let me know if this helps or how I can help with some minor what-if scenarios. Don't have a whole lot of time right now, but can probably squeeze in couple of times.

Cheers,
Ray

Here's my xorg.conf

Code: [Select]

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 1.0  (buildmeister@builder63)  Thu Feb  5 00:18:17 PST 2009

# xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
#   sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "ServerLayout"

# Uncomment if you have a wacom tablet
# InputDevice     "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
# InputDevice     "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
# InputDevice     "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
    Identifier     "Default Layout"
    Screen         "Default Screen" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Generic Keyboard"
    InputDevice    "Configured Mouse"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Generic Keyboard"
    Driver         "kbd"
    Option         "CoreKeyboard"
    Option         "XkbRules" "xorg"
    Option         "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Configured Mouse"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "CorePointer"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
    Option         "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "stylus"
    Driver         "wacom"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
    Option         "Type" "stylus"
    Option         "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "eraser"
    Driver         "wacom"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
    Option         "Type" "eraser"
    Option         "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "cursor"
    Driver         "wacom"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
    Option         "Type" "cursor"
    Option         "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "SAMSUNG"
    Option         "DPMS"
Modeline "1920x1080" 148.5 1920 1960 2016 2200 1080 1082 1088 1125
HorizSync 20-500
VertRefresh 59-61
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "nVidia Corporation NVIDIA Default Card"
    Driver         "nvidia"
Option "XvmcUsesTextures" "true"
Option "renderAccel" "true"
Option "NoDDCValue"
Option "UseEDID" "false"
Option "ExactModeTimingsDVI" "true"
Option "NoLogo" "true"
Option "NoBandWidthTest" "true"
Option "ModeValidation" "NoDFPNativeResolutionCheck, NoEdidMaxPClkCheck, NoMaxPClkCheck, AllowInterlacedModes, AllowNon60HzDFPModes"
Option "DynamicTwinView" "false"
Option "UseEvents" "true"
Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "true"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "true"
Option "ConnectedMonitor" "DFP"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Default Screen"
    Device         "nVidia Corporation NVIDIA Default Card"
    Monitor        "SAMSUNG"
    DefaultDepth    24
SubSection "Display"
Modes "1920x1080"
Virtual 1920 1080
EndSubSection
Option "XvmcUsesTextures" "true"
Option "renderAccel" "true"
Option "NoDDCValue"
Option "UseEDID" "false"
Option "ExactModeTimingsDVI" "true"
Option "NoLogo" "true"
Option "NoBandWidthTest" "true"
Option "ModeValidation" "NoDFPNativeResolutionCheck, NoEdidMaxPClkCheck, NoMaxPClkCheck, AllowInterlacedModes, AllowNon60HzDFPModes"
Option "DynamicTwinView" "false"
Option "UseEvents" "true"
Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "true"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "true"
Option "TVStandard" "1080p"
EndSection


Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "true"
Option "RENDER" "true"
EndSection


38

Users / Re: New installation - UI2 alpha blending with no tearing

« on: March 15, 2009, 08:54:33 pm »

Hmm...ok...didn't know that one...will report back when I get that going...getting HDHomeRun on Tuesday.
Thanks,
R

39

Users / New installation - UI2 alpha blending with no tearing

« on: March 15, 2009, 08:17:53 pm »

Hi guys!
   Just wanted to report my first success and see if I can somehow help out. This is a new (my first ever) installation of LMCE and just tested playing an .ISO last night. The movie played very very nicely, including the fight scenes (Jackie Chan and Jet Li together). The thing is, am using UI2 with alpha blending and since there seems to be so much complications with this setting, I was wondering if you guys wanted some specific information about my setup to help out. I had absolutely no tearing at all!!!
   Please let me know if you want any log or config files or anything that could help out. I'm not completely done with set up yet (still need to finish config of the Gyration and other stuff) but before I continue (and maybe mess something up later) I thought I'd share.

Ray

40

Users / Re: How did you end up here, using LinuxMCE?

« on: March 08, 2009, 09:27:14 pm »

We (wife and I) had an old CRT TV in the basement (entertainment room, if you can call it that), but the basement is way too cold during the winter months to go down there. Out of our home based business, we bought a nicer large flat screen for the living room to make presentations since we didn't want clients to be in the cold of the basement.

We really cant say that we watch TV... but on very small occasions, there were some shows we would have preferred to watch in the larger screen (Lost for me, Desperate Housewives for her).  But there is no cableTV connection in the living room. So we needed a way to stream the cable signal upstairs. So I started looking...should I go with a Slingbox? Well that needed a PC to be connected to the LCD. Well, if we're going to have a PC up there, might as well have a DVD and whole media center solution also, no? So, is there something else besides Slingbox and the like out there? A friend of mine very casually, very nonchalant mentioned he had heard of MythTV and LinuxMCE.

I love Linux and missed it a lot since I hadn't worked with it much lately. (I used to work with Linux, during my undergrad in Computer Engineering, 11 years ago). So I started my research, reading through the forums, and here we are today...just today I finished building the system, and just closed the box. (pictures attached  ) Am very exited about this and looking forward to contributing to the community. I was surprised to know that LinuxMCE as itself is not even three years old, so if its this "old" (new really) and it functions so nicely, I thought, just imagine what it will be 10 years from now...

41

Users / Re: I must say... (and Hello from a newbie)

« on: February 27, 2009, 05:37:36 am »

Thanks again...as typical I burned on the fastest speed...
Now...anyone know anything about finding those MD5s?
R

Well now I feel weird...just found the MD5s here:http://www.linuxmce.org/news.php?id=25
Should have looked better...
For the record, the individual .part files MD5s are not there. Just the final .iso files.

42

Users / Re: I must say... (and Hello from a newbie)

« on: February 27, 2009, 05:22:12 am »

A common issue when downloading such large files is corruption, and this will kill your install.

Thanks colin...
   I was wondering why I'm getting a "Unknown keyword in config file" when trying to boot... Aaaarg! 
will check the MD5s... there goes another DL DVD...

Thanks, 
R

Edit: Strange...no MD5s to compare with...where can I find them? They aren't on the website that I recommended...

43

Users / Re: I must say... (and Hello from a newbie)

« on: February 27, 2009, 04:56:12 am »

ok, with the download getting close to finishing (not the Dual Layer disk, still a week out on that, lol)

Hey P...if you want the Dual Layer download you may want to try the other direct downloads not dependent on BitTorrent. I started last night with the BT downloads and noticed the 2 week thing (not a good sign). So I went to the partial downloads and just finished this afternoon (had some network issues on the way). I just finished burning the DVD right now.

Anyway, if you are US based. Try this: http://mirrorlinux.net/distros/mce710rc2/

Enjoy,
R

44

Users / Re: HDHomeRun DVB-T version....

« on: February 18, 2009, 04:40:12 am »

hehehe...Thanks...I guess I should have done my homework too...I had no idea what DVB-T was. Quick google led me to this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVB-T  Very nice world map at the bottom. Now I know we use ATSC... 

Thanks guys,
R

45

Users / Re: HDHomeRun DVB-T version....

« on: February 18, 2009, 03:55:51 am »

Very nice!   
    Looks like a cool device...now what does this mean for the pcHDTV card? At first glance it looks like they serve the same purpose for us LMCE people (may be a great stand-alone solution for people without LMCE).

   Now, if we had a situation where the cableTV cables were in say...the basement, but we want the Hybrid/Core in the third floor would this device be the solution, instead of having to re-route the cableTV cables to the Hybrid/Core up on the third floor.

   Also, since the HDHomeRun device has two inputs, could this same thing be accomplished with two pcHDTV cards in LMCE?